You can soon, if you insist, talk to your microwave — and it will listen. Amazon recently announced a $60 voice-activated microwave, along with 10 other new products using its Alexa voice assistant. via Pocket

Explanation: This composite of images spaced some 5 to 9 days apart, from late April (bottom right) through November 5 (top left), traces the retrograde motion of ruddy-colored Mars through planet Earth's night sky. via Pocket

I hate having to wait. But do I hate it enough to give up my privacy?This dilemma popped up on a Wednesday night in October, as I stood at the front of a Szechuan restaurant in Brooklyn, eyeing the empty tables inside. via Pocket

Nearly 8,000 words into its exhaustive investigation of the elaborate and allegedly illegal schemes by which Donald Trump’s father conserved his wealth and promoted the myth of his son as a self-made billionaire, the New York Times revealed the existence of a via Pocket

Explanation: That's not a young crescent Moon poised above the hills along the western horizon at sunset. It's Venus in a crescent phase. About 54 million kilometers away and less than 20 percent illuminated, it was captured by telescope and camera on September 30 near Bacau, Romania. via Pocket

Explanation: On Mars dust storms can't actually blow spacecraft over, but they can blot out the Sun. Over three months ago a planet-wide dust storm caused a severe lack of sunlight for the Mars rover Opportunity at its location near the west rim of Endeavor crater. via Pocket

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. Explanation: Jewels don't shine this bright -- only stars do. via Pocket

Explanation: Yes, but can your rainbow do this? After the remnants of Hurricane Florence passed over Jersey Shore, New Jersey, USA last month, the Sun came out in one direction but something quite unusual appeared in the opposite direction: a hall of rainbows. via Pocket

Explanation: A new chapter in space flight began in 1950 with the launch of the first rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida: the Bumper V-2. Featured here, the Bumper V-2 was an ambitious two-stage rocket program that topped a V-2 missile base with a WAC Corporal rocket. via Pocket

It’s a big weekend for Apple retail. Across the United States and Australia, five Apple stores reopened or relocated Saturday to new and expanded spaces. Each store brings with it a unique design and layout, replacing aging locations no longer suited for Apple’s contemporary retail ideals. via Pocket

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. Explanation: The small, northern constellation Triangulum harbors this magnificent face-on spiral galaxy, M33. via Pocket

Network connectivity, like any technology, needs a reset every now and then. You might not consider it, but your iPhone's communications to your local towers can get jammed up and need unclogging. via Pocket

Explanation: Does the Sun return to the same spot on the sky every day at the same time? No. A more visual answer to that question is an analemma, a composite image taken from the same spot at the same time over the course of a year. via Pocket

In 2006, I ventured to the Carnegie Institution in Washington DC. There, I had a long conversation with the astronomer Vera Rubin. Thirty-six years earlier, she was one of the first modern cosmologists to suggest that a huge part of the universe was missing. via Pocket

A few years ago—the company won’t say exactly when—some engineers at Apple began to think the iPhone’s camera could be made smarter using newly powerful machine-learning algorithms known as neural networks. Before long, they were talking with a lean vice president named Tim Millet. via Pocket

Explanation: Inside the Cocoon Nebula is a newly developing cluster of stars. The cosmic Cocoon on the upper right also punctuates a long trail of obscuring interstellar dust clouds to its left. via Pocket

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. Explanation: There's a "camera" comet now moving across the sky. via Pocket

Explanation: How could a galaxy become shaped like a ring? The rim of the blue galaxy pictured on the right is an immense ring-like structure 150,000 light years in diameter composed of newly formed, extremely bright, massive stars. via Pocket

European Commissioner for Competition Margrethe Vestager said Tuesday that the European Commission will finally close its legal investigation into Apple's failure to pay back taxes to Ireland after the company paid €14 billion. via Pocket

Explanation: It was one of the most powerful solar flares in recorded history. Occurring in 2003 and seen across the electromagnetic spectrum, the Sun briefly became over 100 times brighter in X-rays than normal. via Pocket

Apple sent invites today for its annual fall iPhone event where it’s expected to announce multiple new iPhones and possibly a new Apple Watch and an updated iPad Pro. It’ll take place on September 12th in Cupertino, California. via Pocket

In my last Apple Watch Diary piece, I said that there were two things which might sell me on the idea of upgrading from my Series 3 to the upcoming Series 4. One was a more responsive Siri, but the bigger one was more data on the screen. via Pocket

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. Explanation: Cosmic rays from outer space go through your body every second. Typically, they do you no harm. via Pocket

Explanation: Near the center of this sharp cosmic portrait, at the heart of the Orion Nebula, are four hot, massive stars known as the Trapezium. Gathered within a region about 1.5 light-years in radius, they dominate the core of the dense Orion Nebula Star Cluster. via Pocket

Michael Gerson, one of the most eloquent and principled critics of Donald Trump, insists that we are at June 1973, the moment when John Dean’s testimony broke the dam that a year later swept Richard Nixon off into disgrace. Others agree: This is an inflection point. via Pocket